How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods • Hacker News Board

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#121

Post by nebula8804 » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:09 PM UTC

Simulacra wrote: post #60

Insanity wrote: post #2

As a European who moved to Canada and spends a fair amount of time in the States, one thing that really surprised me is how hard it is to find healthy food options compared to the unhealthy ones. Food was a bit of a concern before moving, but I didn't know just how frustrating it would be. Even something as simple as Yogurt is usually insanely sweet / sugary compared to European variants. Ingredients that are banned…

My conspiracy theory is at healthier foods are deliberately made more expensive, to push people into the cheaper ultra processed foods. It's kind of like cigarettes, push them into the more addictive, cheaper products to hook them.

Its more a matter of whats subsidized. All that corn grown thanks to the corn and soy bills passed to support midwestern farmers are used for things such as plumping up cows/pigs/etc, used for a inefficient form of fuel (biodiesel, E85), and finally pumped into all the foods as HFCS among other things. The farmers can keep growing unproductive crops and stay in business (so politicians won't be hearing from them), the government can ensure the farmland processes will be available during wartime and they can check off their requirements of ensuring all citizens have a minimal required number of "calories".

Its a symptom of same thing that is messing up the US in all other areas. Poor governance caused by layers of people all along the stack taking their cut and not caring about the overall picture.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#122

Post by ashtakeaway » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:10 PM UTC

dgfitz wrote: post #46

Der_Einzige wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, "actual" grocery store for the purposes of finding reliably fresh and healthy food includes one of the following: 1. Upscale western grocery stores and markets, ideally located within the biggest and most affluent city possible. Pikes place market would be a great example of what I'm talking about for you seattle folks. 2. Asian grocery stores, like "H-mart" 3. Farmers markets, but these are hit and miss…

> America just sucks for foodies who don't have unlimited time to get through the slop. I think by definition, being a “foodie” means you have, and enjoy finding, the time to sort the wheat from the chaff. Nobody has unlimited time for anything. “I want to be be a ‘foodie’ but really I just want to be judgy” is a weak argument.

Being judgy is a uniquely American trait that's become popular over the past 20 years.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#123

Post by supportengineer » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:10 PM UTC

rolisz wrote: post #97

Yizahi wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that to a European citizen this is a bit unexpected. In Europe, in all countries, you can find roughly the same level of "safeness" of food across all tiers of stores. Go to a cheapest one and the most expensive one, and the yogurt, tomatoes or meat would be approximately the same quality and have the same nutritional components. The only difference would be that expensive store would additionally carr…

Romanian here: the tomato quality varies by a lot. All stores have crappy "plastic" tasting tomatoes. It's not that easy to find really good tomatoes (in summer you can find them at local markets, in winter... Fancy imports I guess).

Even in the SF Bay Area, we have this problem. The best tomatoes are from someone's backyard.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#124

Post by spogbiper » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:11 PM UTC

hvb2 wrote: post #89

wenc wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian living in the US, I’d say your sentiment depends on where you live and what you’re willing to pay. In the Seattle area there are overpriced grocery stores like PCC and Met Market that sell healthy food at a premium. There is also Whole Foods. Even normal grocery stores like Safeway and Kroger have a ton of healthy foods — you just have to read the label. The one thing you have to know if that American g…

> they carry way more SKUs Not compared to France :) you can buy a dishwasher a tv and stuff for your car all in the same supermarket... Don't ask me why, just stating a fact

this sounds like a "super" walmart or target in the US. everything from garden furniture to broccoli to laptops

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#125

Post by Esophagus4 » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:11 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #5

For convenience, my rice cooker has been a godsend. I'm basically making homemade chipotle bowls every day.

I do homemade Cava bowls in it! Less salt, fewer pesticides, and fewer preservatives than the actual thing.

Lately I’ve been using more microwave rice just because it’s less cooking and cleanup, but still good overall.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#126

Post by nradov » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:12 PM UTC

vector_spaces wrote: post #71

nradov wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food deserts do exist but appear to have no meaningful effect on eating habits. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/food-deserts-not-blame-growi...

You made a claim that plain yogurt is generally available in US food markets, attempting to make an inference about grocery store selections drawing from your own experience. I pointed out that it is not actually generally available and noted that your experience does not generalize. I am not sure why you mention eating habits, since this is not what is being discussed

My claim was 100% accurate and my experience does generalize. Plain yogurt with no added sugar is generally available at the vast majority of supermarkets throughout the country. I have actually seen it in both poor and affluent areas all over.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Instead of making things up you can literally just go look.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#127

Post by jay_kyburz » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:12 PM UTC

hvb2 wrote: post #92

jay_kyburz wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food labels in the US and Canada suck as well compared to the UK and Australia. How big is a serve, who's percent daily value? Those numbers just aren't useful. Here in Australia we have a column for grams per 100g by weight. It makes it much easier to compare foods.

Units in the US make comparisons hard... Same problem in recipes...

You could just have percentage per weight. ie. This product is 30% sugar.

Instead you have than x% of your recommended daily amount, if you are an average size American, eating an average size serving according to the FDA. How are you supposed to do anything with that.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#128

Post by supportengineer » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:12 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #44

vector_spaces wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In large swaths of the country, these "non-grocery stores" are a lifeline, as they are the only option. In others, you don't even have that -- gas station convenience stores might be that lifeline instead. [1] I am familiar with what the grandparent is referring to, having spent a decade running purchasing teams in US grocery stores. Even in urban areas with many different food retail stores, a typical supermarket in…

For most US supermarkets, shop around the perimeter and avoid anything in any of the center aisles. While individual floor plans vary, that tends to route you to the fresh produce and meats and dairy and avoid most of the ultraprocessed packaged stuff.

I give this advice to anyone I meet who just moved here from overseas.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#129

Post by nebula8804 » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:12 PM UTC

arrozconcosas wrote: post #99

dfxm12 wrote: post #4

They're cheap, easy to find and easy to prepare. With grocery prices going up, what little progress has been made might get reversed, unfortunately. Making America healthy again means making non-ultraprocessed groceries available to everyone & cheaper, and ensuring that working families have time to cook. Pressuring Coke to create a new product with sugar is not going to move the needle.

Many times the ultra processed crap is more expensive. Don't forget "convenient to buy" in addition to "convenient to cook". For example, a cliff bar bought from a corner store could be $3, and is basically a candy bar. A company I like is called Farmer's Fridge, and they basically have vending machines in convenient places with fresh made healthy foods like salads.

I love what Farmers Fridge is doing, I wish their prices were cheaper but Im glad that they exist and I hope they continue to grow.

Re: How America got hooked on ultraprocessed foods

#130

Post by volkl48 » Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 6:13 PM UTC

Jensson wrote: post #51

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, Whole Foods targets upper middle class folks, you’re far away from the average American experience

Yeah, when I visited USA I was shocked to find lots of larger "grocery stores" didn't even stock the basics. In Europe that isn't a thing, everything larger than a regular room has fresh vegetables and meat and other staples, even in immigrant areas. Sure it might be possible to find that in USA as well, but its so much harder as not every store has it.

Were you actually visiting what Americans would consider a grocery store?

I'm not saying this is specifically the case for you, but it is remarkably common for visitors from other parts of the world to visit, go into what we consider a "convenience store", and then be confused that there's basically nothing in terms of actual groceries in there, with probably 80%+ of the "consumable" shelving devoted to snack/"junk" items.

Those stores are intended pretty much entirely for stuff people want while on the go, and the few "groceries" they stock are basically aimed at the kind of things a drunk/stoned person is craving at 3AM when nothing else is open (say, a frozen pizza), or the few things you might run out of by surprise in the morning/when about to eat and be willing to greatly overpay for being able to grab somewhere close by before your meal/schedule is ruined. (ex: milk, condiments, maybe eggs).